Autism: More frequent but why?

Midland Daily News

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Saturday, September 27, 2008

Autism is a developmental disorder that can be devastating to a family. It involves impairments in communication and social interaction in the affected individual. Repetitive and stereotyped behaviors and obsessive interests are a part of the changes observed.

The abnormal development is present before 3 years of age. One-fourth of affected children will show a regression in their development. In other words, they will lose some of the skills that they had previously acquired. This generally occurs in the second year of life. One-third of children will have epilepsy and three-fourths, mental retardation.

Prevalence of autism has indeed increased in recent years. From 1997 through 1991, 4.4 children per 10,000 were affected. This rose to 12.7 per 10,000 from 1992 through 2001. A study in the United Kingdom has shown an incidence of 40 per 10,000 children since then. It is even higher if conditions similar to autism are included in the statistics. Males are affected more commonly than females (4:1 ratio).

Of course, everyone wants to know why we are experiencing the increase. Most cases of autism appear to be a result of genetic factors and exposure. It is not the same type of genetic relationship that we see with Down syndrome, color of eyes, build, etc. Rather, it seems that the genes are susceptible to various influences. In other words, things function normally unless there is an exposure to a certain environmental factor. That factor causes the genes to respond in certain ways resulting in autism. Finding the environmental factor (if that is indeed the correct assertion), has been the problem. It has been proven that autism is not caused by factors surrounding birth; the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine; or thiomerasol in vaccines.

So what is it then? The difficulty of sorting out this "cofactor" or "cofactors" is overwhelming. Think of all the things it could be. Preservatives in foods, chemicals in water, dyes, fire retardants in clothing, soaps, plastics in bottles, quality of air, radio waves etc, etc. Where does one begin?

Unfortunately, treatment interventions have not been universally successful. Some are administered by parents in the home while others require a multidisciplinary team. The table below summarizes various treatment approaches and their likely benefit.

Many parents and authorities feel that early intervention makes a significant difference in the eventual outcome. However, autism is a lifelong condition with a variable course. In the end, 15 percent of adults with autism will live independently, while 15 or 20 percent will live alone but with community support. The search for the cause or causes continues.

Clinical Questions

What are the effects of early, intensive multidisciplinary intervention programs in children with autism?

Likely to be beneficial Applied behavioral analysis*

Autism Pre-school Program*

Child's talk*

More than Words training course*

Picture Exchange Communication System*

TEACCH*

Unknown effectiveness Early Bird Program

Floor time

Portage scheme

Relationship development intervention

Social skills training

Social stories

Son-rise

What are the effects of dietary interventions in children with autism?